Auxiliary furniture spring



Sept. 9,1958 E. G. KRAKAUER 2,851,037

AUXILIARY FURNITURE SPRING Filed May 31, 1956 IN VEN TOR.

23 I Edwin 6'. Krakauer BY 1Q a TTORNEY v 2,851,081 Patented Sept. 9,1958 2,851,087 AUXILIARY FURNITURE SPRING Edwin G. Krakauer, RoslynHeights, N. Y., assignor to Kay Manufacturing Corporation, Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application May 31, 1956, Serial No.588,358

4 Claims. (Cl. 155-179) This invention relates to spring constructionsin upholstered furniture and particularly to the auxiliary springs usedto improve the spring action at the end portions of the main springs incases where such main springs are of sinuous form and extend across theframe for the spring structure.

The invention contemplates the provision of an auxiliary spring ofgenerally rectangular or O-shaped outline and made of a single length ofwire, provided with bends at the rear end portion thereof whereby theauxiliary spring may readily be hooked as an individual unit about thesinuous spring independently of the other springs, the auxiliary springbeing provided with a pair of attaching elements at the front endportion thereof whereby it may be attached to any point of a borderwire, the spring also having an opening between its sides for thepassage of a clip to secure it to the side portion of a border wire andthereby to adapt the same spring for use at the corner of the springstructure and obviating the need for special auxiliary springs at thecorners.

The invention further contemplates the provision of O-shaped orgenerally rectangular outline.

spring unit being secured to the side portion 14 of the border wire by asuitable clip as 15. The unit 17 may be readily disali-gned with itssinuous spring 10 to bring the front part thereof close to the borderwire 14 as shown in Fig. 1.

As shown, the auxiliary spring unit is made of wire in The side edgeportions 20, 21 are preferably straight and parallel but may divergeforwardly should it be desired to employ a clip wider than the sheetmetal clip 22 shown to secure the front edge portions of the unit to theborder wire 12. At the rear end of the unit, the side edge portions 20,21 are integrally joined by the cross bar 23 which closes said rear endand stiifens the unit and permits it to be made of a single length ofwire. At the front end thereof, a pair of similar attaching elements 24,25 are provided on the unit, said elements closing the front end portionof. and

also stiffening the unit. A substantially right angle bond 26 joins theelement 24 to the side portion 20 While a similar bend 27 joins theother element 25 to the other side portion 21. Each element terminatesin a short substantially straight free end portion as 28 for the element24 and 29 for the element 25, said end portions 28 and 29 being joinedto the remainder of the element by a substantially right angle bend as30 and 31 respectively.

The elements extend from the respective side edge portions an auxiliaryspring for use in connection with sinuous springs and a border wire, theauxiliary spring being formed with elements permitting the attachmentthereof to the front portion of the border wire or to the side portionof said Wire or to both front and side portions of said wireindependently of similar adjacent auxiliary and sinuous springs.

The various objects of the invention will be clear from the followingdescription and from the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary topplan view of the corner part of a spring seat or back showing oneauxiliary spring at the corner and another adjacent thereto.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof partly in vertical section.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevational view thereof.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the auxiliary spring.

In general, the auxiliary spring as is customary, supplements thevarious bowed and spaced apart sinuous springs as 10, 11 and the likestretching from front to back across the usual frame, not shown, for theseat or back of a piece of upholstered furniture. The usual border wire12 is arranged above the front end of the sinuous springs and passesaround tothe side of the spring structure. An individual auxiliaryspring unit is provided for each sinuous spring and is independent ofthe other sinuous springs, but is connected at the front to the sameborder wire as the other auxiliary springs. The rear end of eachauxiliary spring is provided with spaced apart bends which arealternately concave and convex and thereby adapted to hold said rear endto its sinuous spring, especially when the front end of the spring ispre-stressed by depressing and tying the border wire down closer to thframe than it would normally be. 1

By the use of an individual unit for each sinous spring, the specialcorner structure heretofore necessary is avoided, and the same type ofauxiliary spring is employed both at the corners and elsewhere in thespring construction, the

of the unit transversely toward each other and preferably do not extendoutside of the rectangular outline or outside of the sides 20, 21.

One element as 24 is arranged preferably vertically above the other withthe border wire 12 on top and above the element 25. The clip 22 holdsthe parts in the positions described and is long enough to extend asclosely as possible at both ends thereof to the bends 30 and 31. Thefree end portions 28, 29 and the bends 30, 31 cooperate to preventmaterial rotation of the auxiliary spring unit on the border wire, beingin the path thereof or interfering with each other should such turningas would cause objectionable noises, tend to occur under the stresses ofnormal use. The portions 28 and 29 also serve to prevent the sides 20,21 from spreading apart under stress and ultimately being drawn out ofthe clip 22.

As shown, the bends in the rear portion of the auxiliary spring unit 17are three in number for each of the side portions 20 and 21. The crossbar 23 is arranged transversely across and rigidly joins the sideportions 20 and 21 through the intermediary of the bends 36, 32a and 45,the straight portion 33a integrally joining the bends 32a and 45 andbeing coplanar therewith. The bend 36 is coplanar with the bar 23 andlies in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the bends32a and cause of the large angle subtended by the bend 45, the por-'tions 23, 32a and 33a are brought below the side edge portions of theunit 17. The unit 17 is consequently engaged with or hooked to thesinuous spring by arranging the cross bar 38 of the latter at the bend45 and further arranging the bend 32a at and above the cross bar 39.

While certain specific forms of the invention have herein been shown anddescribed, various obvious changes may be made therein without departingfrom the spirit of the invention defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a spring construction, a frame, a border Wire in spaced relationto the frame, a sinuous spring bridging the frame, an auxiliary springof generally O-shaped outline for and confined to the sinuous spring,the auxiliary spring having a continuous bent rear end portion. adaptedto be hooked to and thereby rigidly connected.

solely by said end portion to the sinuous spring, said auxiliary springbeing of a single shaped length of wire having a pair of transverselyspaced apart sides and a pair of similar front end elements eachintegrally joined by a bend to one of the sides and each extendingtoward the other element and a free rearwardly extending portion at theend of each element similar, parallel to and of substantially the samelength as the tree portion of the other element, the overall width ofboth elements being substantially that of the auxiliary spring, theauxiliary spring being clipless and jointless and having an integralcross bar at the rear end thereof and a plurality of bends between thecross bar and the sides, said elements overlapping to form a closedfrontend on the auxiliary spring and a rigid connection between theelements and the border wire comprising a clip passed thereabout betweenthe bends of the elements to secure the elements to and against rotationon the border wire.

2. In a spring construction, a series of transversely spaced apartsinuous springs, a border wire, and an individual clipless and jointlessone piece wire auxiliary spring between the border wire and each sinuousspring, each auxiliary spring being independent of the other auxiliaryand other sinuous springs, said auxiliary spring being generallyO-shaped and having a front end portion, a rear end portion and straightsides integrally joining said portions, the front end portion comprisinga pair of L-sha-ped members each extending transversely and integrallyfrom one side toward the other side of the auxiliary spring, thetransverse leg of each Lshaped member being in overlapping ccntact withthe corresponding leg of the other member and being substantiallyperpendicular to said sides, the other leg of each member being free andconstituting one of the ends of said one piece spring and being directedrearwardly and substantially parallel to said other side of theauxiliary spring, a clip between the free legs of the members andpassing around both of the first mentioned legs and the border wire andsecuring said legs to said wire and thereby preventing relative rotarymovement of the members and the border wire, the free legs beingarranged adjacent the respective ends of the clips and preventingrelative transverse movement of the sides and the clip, the rear endportion of the auxiliary spring comprising a first bend at the rear endof each of the sides and concave forwardly and subtending an anglesomewhat less than 180 and coplanar with the side from which said firstbend extends, a straight portion extending forwardly from said firstbend substantially parallel to the side, a

second bend concave downwardly and coplanar with the first bend and theside and subtending an angle of approximately 90 and at the forward endof said straight portion, a third bend subtending approximately 90extending transversely of the second bend and arranged in a planesubstantially perpendicular to the plane of the first and second bends,and a transverse cross bar integrally connecting corresponding thirdbends at the rear ends of the respective sides.

3 An auxiliary spring for the front end portion of a single sinuousfurniture spring, and constituting a single shaped length of wire, andbeing a unit independent, when installed in a spring structure, ofsimilar units and independent of. .the springs of said structure otherthan the aforesaid single spring, said unit having a pair oftransversely spaced apart similar sides, a front end portion on eachside comprising an L-shaped member having a leg extending integrallyfrom the front end of one side toward the other side and having a secondleg parallel to and adjacent said other side, a rear end portion on eachside comprising a first bend concave forwardly and subtending an angleslightly less than 180, a straight portion extending forwardly from andintegral at one end with the first bend, a second bend concavedownwardly and extending from the other end of the straight portion andcoplanar with the first bend and the straight portion, a third bendextending toward the other side and in a plane substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the first and second bends, and atransverse bar integrally and rigidly connecting the third bends of therespective sides, the first and second bends constituting the sole meansfor connecting the auxiliary spring tosaid single spring.

4. The auxiliary spring of claim 3, the second bend subtendingapproximately 90 and the L-shaped front members being maintained by thecross bar and said sides in permanent overlapping relation and beingprevented from rotating within a clip when clipped to a border wire ofsaid spring structure, to form a rigid connection thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,295,287 Falls Feb. 25, 1919 2,392,254 Mayer Jan. 1, 1946 2,439,789Bank Apr. 20, 1948 2,657,740 Daniels Nov. 3, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS1,103,311 France May 18, 1955

